12 Ton Shop Press

Posted on October 7, 2010 by Brian Gallimore

I knew I’d have to press the pinion and carrier bearings (multiple times) for this job i’m in the middle of right now, and that would wind up costing me as much as the cost of a brand new hydraulic press from Harbor Freight.  When I set it up Tuesday night I could not get it squared up correctly.  There is a reason stuff from that store is so cheap.  It is made is China, and tolerances are probably not important to the manufacture.  I tried tightening it all up with Amber’s help holding it square and couldn’t get it right, so I decided to take another path.  I bought a couple of turnbuckles and a piece of all thread from Home Depot.  Then I welded some tabs on and created cross braces that let me dial in tension either way.  It seems to work pretty good.  I’ve needed a press before, so I’m glad to have one finally.

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Mustard Hands

Posted on October 5, 2010 by Brian Gallimore

Bryson and I went down to our neighborhood park for National Night Out tonight.  He was in a hurry to eat his hotdog so he could go play.

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Quadrasteer / Dana 60 Rebuild How-To (ring, pinion, carrier replacement)

Posted on October 3, 2010 by Brian Gallimore

The rear axle on a Quadrasteer equiped vehicle is a Dana 60.  It is a pretty common unit that was used on the front of many 1 ton trucks in the 70s, 80s and 90s, and some muscle cars in the 60s and 70s.  Even though this is on the rear of my pickup, most of the parts and procedures are similar to a front axle, since the wheels steer.  (only move maximum of 15 degrees, instead of normal 40 degrees)  These are the steps I took to remove and replace the carrier, ring, and pinion.  I’ve included the recommended tightening specs for reference during assembly.

Remove the wheels.

The rear-steer action is accomplished with a electric servo motor, gear box, and tie-rods.  It is mounted to a special differential cover housing.  I think all of the internal parts are the industry-standard Dana 60 parts, which is a really good thing because there are so many different parts and options available for it. Continue reading →

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We had a Successful Operation

Posted on October 3, 2010 by Brian Gallimore

And when I say successful, I’m using it in the same sense Tom Hanks did in the movie ‘The Green Mile’ after they electrocuted that guy without any water on the sponge.  The quadrasteer motor and gearbox block access to a couple of the differential cover bolts.  Not a big deal, but I used one of my fancy GearWrenches in a way that left the wrench stuck on the bolt, wedged between the gearbox, with no way to get the bolt in or out.

I wound having to cut the bolt off.

Once I removed the axle shafts, I could tell I had a big problem.

I was all worried that I wouldn’t be able to get the carrier out since I didn’t have the special housing spreader tool.  Turns out it fell right out under its own weight once I removed the bearing caps.  The shims were non-existent.  I’m guessing they were eaten up in the gears.  The ring-side bearing was a mess.  I’m glad I finally decided to take care of this, because I’m sure it would have failed in a ugly way soon.

Getting the pinion out was a big pain.  I gave up trying to hold the block of wood in one hand and hit it with a sledge hammer held in the other hand.  I decided to sacrifice the pinion nut and beat away with both hands.  The problem was that I distorted the nut so bad I couldn’t get my socket back on it to get it off.  I finally persuaded it to work the way I wanted it to, again, with the sledge hammer.

One last complaint:  My impact wrench didn’t have enough ass to get the skid plate bolts or the caliper bolts loose.  I think this is because of the super thread lock compound used to assemble these parts with.  They were NOT going to come off under natural causes.

NOTE:  to see all my posts about the Dana 60 Axle, click here.

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Raise Me 6 Inches

Posted on October 2, 2010 by Brian Gallimore

I jacked quadzilla up by the frame instead of the axle this time and noticed that sitting on the jack stands is about the height I want it to be.  The top of the wheels are the same height as the lower edge of the body.  I consider this to be the proper height.

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Quadzilla Repairs

Posted on October 2, 2010 by Brian Gallimore

I started the work to remove the rear differential carrier today.  I didn’t get too far though, got started too late.  I did get the wheels off, the spare tire removed, rear tie rods disconnected, parking brake linkage off.  I noticed that one of the exhaust hanger brackets was broke.  I re-welded it back together, poorly.  I included a picture here to show off how bad I am at welding!  The factory exhaust mounts are so much better than the custom ones…  The engineers spend time to get things like that right, they have to last for as long as the car, and they usually do.  The magnetic drain plug had a bunch of crud attached to it.  It might just be posi-traction clutch material, or it might be something worse, still haven’t taken off the differential cover yet.

Broken Exhaust Mount

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Crash Course – Economy / Energy / Environment

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Brian Gallimore

This is important enough that I’d like everyone I care about to be very familiar with this information.  I’m posting it here in hopes of spreading the information.  I heard an interview of Chris Martenson today.  Something about his analytical/scientific and calm/rational personality really grabbed my respect.  The content of his message is of utmost importance, especially for Gen-X-ers like me, who have only known life as it has been for the past 20 years.  “The next 20 years are going to be completely unlike the last 20 years” I just watched the condensed 45-minute version of his crash course.  If I don’t suffer from a massive heart-attack, I’ll digest the rest of his materials in the next few days/weeks.  If you’ve had any conversations with me in the past 2 years, you likely know that I’m a little familiar with these topics already, but having them all explained so clearly and presented in a way that shows some of their inter-relationships is something very valuable.  I’d really like to know from my friends if you think any of this information is not true or if you think we should not be concerned.  Please let me hear from you!

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Protest Fur Coats, Not Motorcycle Leathers

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Brian Gallimore

This is why PETA usually protests women wearing fur rather than bikers wearing leather.

Johnstown, PA (GlossyNews) – Local and state police scoured the hills outside rural Johnstown, Pennsylvania, after reports of three animal rights activists going missing after attempting to protest the wearing of leather at a large motorcycle gang rally this weekend. Two others, previously reported missing, were discovered by fast food workers “duct taped inside fast food restaurant dumpsters,” according to police officials.

“Something just went wrong,”said a still visibly shaken organizer of the protest. “Something just went horribly, horribly, wrong.”The organizer said a group of concerned animal rights activist groups, “growing tired of throwing fake blood and shouting profanities at older women wearing leather or fur coats,” decided to protest the annual motorcycle club event “in a hope to show them our outrage at their wanton use of leather in their clothing and motor bike seats.” “In fact,” said the organizer, “motorcycle gangs are one of the biggest abusers of wearing leather, and we decided it was high time that we let them know that we disagree with them using it. ergo, they should stop.”

According to witnesses, protesters arrived at the event in a vintage 1960’s era Volkswagen van and began to pelt the gang members with balloons filled with red colored water, simulating blood, and shouting “you’re murderers” to passers by. This, evidently, is when the brouhaha began.

“They peed on me!!!” charged one activist. “They grabbed me, said I looked like I was French, started calling me ‘La Trene’ and duct taped me to a tree so they could pee on me all day!”

Continue reading →

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Uncle Sam Wants You

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Brian Gallimore

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Betty’s A/C System

Posted on September 26, 2010 by Brian Gallimore

I made some progress on Betty’s air conditioning system this afternoon.  A/C work is a little unfamiliar to me.  Everything has to be kept sealed, since air contaminates the components.  Getting the compressor bolted in place is a two person job as far as I can tell.  I tried until I was tired; I think it is impossible to hold that heavy-ass thing and get the bolts started by yourself.  Getting the block plate off the back of the compressor was a bit exciting.  As I removed myself from underneath the car to get a pry tool, it busted apart, spraying green oil all over the place.  I didn’t realize it would be under that kind of pressure; good thing my head wasn’t under it when that happened.  Everything else was pretty uneventful, just time consuming.  I replaced the expansion valve, receiver/dryer and pressure switch.  I did brake the temperature switch, so that is another $20.  I should have already bought a new one anyway.  One of the Schrader valves is leaking, so I’m going to replace that before I put a charge on the system.

Vacuuming Betty's Innards

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